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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
I liked the book, but I won't lie. If I met Eddie Huang in person, I'd love his food and hate the man.
I'm not sure why this book was a struggle for me to get through it, but it was. There were parts of this book that I liked a lot: Eddie's complex family life, his list of what he planned to do & actually did them, his love of food and new york city. But there's a lot of self-indulgent brashness and one-noted lashing out. 2 stars on Good Reads apparently means "it's okay", so 2 stars it is.
I didn't know much about Eddie Huang before I picked it up & was pleasantly surprised that this was NOT the typical Asian-American goes a bit wrong then does right story. Don't get me wrong, that message is there, but the journey & memoir are both a bit extreme.
Huang's opening sentence is about soup dumplings, Din Tai Fung is on page two, and the first NBA reference is on page three. Hip-hop quotes before the text, just after the title page. I was hooked from the beginning. While the details of the author's story are very far from mine, he is speaking my language-- about pop culture, Chinese/Taiwanese-American food & culture, and race & identity in America.
While the constant stream of sports/pop culture references occasionally gets a little bit tiresome, even to me (hello, Charles Barkley poster on my bedroom closet door for YEARS), Huang's story is a wildly entertaining one, and while it will probably resonate particularly with minorities of a certain generation, it's at heart a great one for anyone who has felt like they didn't fit in somewhere or had trouble picking a path because what they wanted to do wasn't what they were taught to believe they SHOULD do.
[I will note, if you are not well-versed in 80s/90s hip-hop, sports and/or Taiwanese food, reading this with a computer or smartphone nearby will probably improve your experience.]
Huang's opening sentence is about soup dumplings, Din Tai Fung is on page two, and the first NBA reference is on page three. Hip-hop quotes before the text, just after the title page. I was hooked from the beginning. While the details of the author's story are very far from mine, he is speaking my language-- about pop culture, Chinese/Taiwanese-American food & culture, and race & identity in America.
While the constant stream of sports/pop culture references occasionally gets a little bit tiresome, even to me (hello, Charles Barkley poster on my bedroom closet door for YEARS), Huang's story is a wildly entertaining one, and while it will probably resonate particularly with minorities of a certain generation, it's at heart a great one for anyone who has felt like they didn't fit in somewhere or had trouble picking a path because what they wanted to do wasn't what they were taught to believe they SHOULD do.
[I will note, if you are not well-versed in 80s/90s hip-hop, sports and/or Taiwanese food, reading this with a computer or smartphone nearby will probably improve your experience.]
Eh, I expected this book to be funny (I've watched maybe 3 episodes of the show) and instead I got a lot of swearing and a sports commentary. No thanks for me.
I wish he could have told his story without cussing every third word or so, but other than the content warning, it was pretty entertaining and well told.
I expected to enjoy reading Huang's memoir for it's food talk, rumination on being a first generation American, and humor. I didn't expect the larger discussion of toxic masculinity and race. I especially didn't expect to enjoy reading so much about old school hip hop and basketball. Certain jokes weren't my taste, Huang is deliberately no holds barred and rough around the edges. I knew I would enjoy this memoir, but I didn't expect to love it. Highly recommend.
The first 100 pages are 4-star material about growing up in an abusive home...
Then it nose-dives into a tale of self-aggrandizement and 'let me tell you how cool I am'. This is a guy who thinks that he needs to prove something.
Then it nose-dives into a tale of self-aggrandizement and 'let me tell you how cool I am'. This is a guy who thinks that he needs to prove something.
Eddie Huang read the book to me (through the magic of books on tape), which is part of the reason why I loved this book so frickin much, but mostly, the number of items he covered, from race, class, politics, the american dream, food, perceptions, implicit biases, to the proper use of the semi-colin, turned my brain on to a fierce writer and change-maker.
I can't believe the number of lives this man has lead in a short 30-ish years, and am looking forward to reading more of his work. Social-change books come in all forms, and I think his writing will be well consumed...though it will take a while for people to digest (sorry).
I can't believe the number of lives this man has lead in a short 30-ish years, and am looking forward to reading more of his work. Social-change books come in all forms, and I think his writing will be well consumed...though it will take a while for people to digest (sorry).
There is so much that I want to say about this book, but in all honesty it can be summed up as follows:
Eddie Huang is an unbearable, racist jerk, and the fact that he wrote a book that is basically nothing more than a long essay about how cool he is only underlines that fact.
There. If you haven't read the book, I just saved you from it. I couldn't even finish the damn thing, and I don't give up easily.
Eddie Huang is an unbearable, racist jerk, and the fact that he wrote a book that is basically nothing more than a long essay about how cool he is only underlines that fact.
There. If you haven't read the book, I just saved you from it. I couldn't even finish the damn thing, and I don't give up easily.
As memoirs go, this was a bit of a disappointment. I really can't stand reading memoirs, where the author keeps making the same mistakes over and over again with no sign of learning anything. The author keeps doing the same things ad nauseum and gets the same results. Even when he claims to have received a wake-up call after being arrested, there's really no change. Reading a memoir written like this, its like the author is asking for a pat on the back and somebody to reassure him that the problem isn't him, it's other people.I also really couldn't get over the way he talked about and treated women. For someone who talks about the feminism classes he took in college, you think he'd be a little more aware of how he treated women.Despite these issues, I did find it interesting to read
about him trying to stay connected to his roots in Taiwan and how he ultimately managed to do that by turning to cooking. I really enjoyed the descriptions of different dishes sprinkled throughout this memoir and that is what led to my rating of 3 1/2 stars.
about him trying to stay connected to his roots in Taiwan and how he ultimately managed to do that by turning to cooking. I really enjoyed the descriptions of different dishes sprinkled throughout this memoir and that is what led to my rating of 3 1/2 stars.